Ricoh Europe: The Impacts of Humans and Machines in Financial Services

Ricoh
Europe-- The latest impacts of technology-led change are
providing mixed outcomes for the financial services sector. An automated
decision made by a computer programme has cost more than one-third (37
per cent) of financial services organisations money at least once in the
past six months. In addition, nearly one in three (31 per cent) said
that they've lost customers in the same period as a result of an
automated decision. The insights are from a new study called Humans
and Machines, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and
sponsored by Ricoh.
The research investigates the impacts of technology upon human
creativity and intuition.

“These findings highlight the need for urgent action,” says Carsten
Bruhn, Executive Vice President, Ricoh Europe. “Automated processes can
bring significant benefits to the financial services sector, and while
technology may provide high intelligence, it is essential that the
processes are reviewed and updated regularly by humans (ie business
experts), to ensure compliance with regulations, and that security
standards and efficiencies are maintained. When processes are optimised
and systems are connected, a collaborative and creative working
environment is enabled to better meet client needs.”

It seems that financial services executives do continue to recognise
that automation can add business value and sometimes human intervention
need only be minimal. In particular, when asked where human imagination
or intuition was most critical, just a small minority (8 per cent) said
managing regulations and even fewer (6 per cent) said it was critical to
ensure information security. However, human intervention remains
essential for the majority of respondents when it comes to interacting
with customers (46 per cent) and managing risk (31 per cent).

The highest rated challenge for the financial services sector (48 per
cent) when it comes to dealing with technology is the sector’s ability
to connect systems with each other.

“Keeping up with the pace of technology change and ensuring ongoing
connectivity across systems isn’t easy. We know that technology is
evolving more quickly than the processes or ways to use it. To
successfully create connected systems, the financial services sector
should focus on process optimisation and make changes to traditional
ways of working. Increasingly, financial services executives are
outsourcing the management of these tasks to third party experts,
meaning they gain all the benefits while freeing up employee time to
focus on core business activities,” says Bruhn.

Financial services executives are unanimous in recognising that the
latest technology must not be hailed as the only route to future
success. Almost three quarters (71 per cent) agree that technology in
isolation, without a process to connect it, delivers little value, and
86 per cent said that human-technology interaction will only add value
if the processes used to connect them are more creative.

Despite the challenges, the financial services sector remains optimistic
about the benefits of technology. 41 per cent said their team’s best
innovations of the past three years could not have been delivered
without supporting technology, and one in three (30 per cent) said they
could not even have been conceived without it. A further 78 per cent
said that technology helps them to be more productive. As such,
technology does not, as yet, appear to be taking over key activities
such as decision-making or developing innovative ideas.

Bruhn adds: “It’s clear that technology plays an essential role in
supporting new ideas for the financial services industry. The
opportunity is to create a future where technology enriches human skills
rather than competing with them, therefore empowering human creativity
and innovation. The benefits will be improved business agility and the
ability to deliver a better customer experience, with more efficient
processes, that lead to more effective data security and compliance
management.”

Ricoh is a global technology company specialising in office imaging
equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and
IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in more than
200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2012,
Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,903 billion yen (approx. 23 billion
USD).

The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and
services that improve the interaction between people and information.
Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialised
industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the
exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability
initiatives.

Under its corporate tagline, imagine. change. Ricoh helps
companies transform the way they work and harness the collective
imagination of their employees.

The analysis in this article, and the larger white paper of which it is
part, is based on a two-pronged research effort conducted by the
Economist Intelligence Unit. The first is a survey of 432 senior
executives (including 63 from the financial sector), conducted in
November and December 2012, exploring their views on the interplay
between technology and human imagination in their organisations. The
sample is global, with roughly equal numbers emanating from Europe,
North America and Asia-Pacific. All respondents are at a senior level:
50% hold C-suite or board positions. They hail from over 20 different
industries; aside from financial services, other industries strongly
represented include education, government/public sector (including
healthcare), manufacturing and technology. Just over half of the firms
in the survey (53%) have annual revenue in excess of US$500m, with
nearly one in five having US$10bn or more. Complementing the survey was
a series of 20 in-depth interviews conducted with prominent business and
technology thinkers as well senior corporate executives across different
sectors.

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